After nearly 2 years, Blackberry has finally agreed to setup its server in Mumbai, India. This controversy has had quite a effect on Blackberry’s business in India. According to the latest report by convergence catalyst, Blackberry marginally lost its market share in smartphone category.
According to the news, the servers installed by Research in Motion have been inspected by team of Indian security officers for direct linkage for lawful interception of encrypted communication happening over Blackberry messaging services.
Blackberry’s local server setup will now allow Indian law enforcement agencies real time monitoring and interception of BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service data.
However, RIM is still unable to provide interception of highly encrypted data of their BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), the solution for which is not as straightforward as BBM services.
In India, over 5000 businesses use BES & BBM services. Now, with the data being monitored by Indian enforcement agencies, one will have to see as to how the corporates will respond. I am sure they will not want anyone, even the government, snooping on their communication.
For RIM – they had a tough task on their hands – If they did not provide access to security agencies they would have to bid good bye to Indian shores, while providing access would severely dent their USP and negatively affect their business in India.
Now, other mobile manufacturers like Nokia will have to brace themselves to set-up for similar kind of interception services as Indian security agencies will not settle for anything less!
Would love to hear your comments on this!